This one nearly passed me by. Mike Oldfield has re-released two of his 70's albums Ommadawn and Hergest Ridge in deluxe version each comprised of two CDs and DVD. The CDs have the original album remastered plus bonus tracks and previously unreleased demo versions of the respective oeuvres. The DVDs have the 5.1 mixes.Originally released in 1974 Hergest Ridge was the follow up to Tubular Bells and basically established Oldfield's style as instrumental hippy prog-rock featuring all manner of instruments, mostly played by the introspective Mike himself. Hergest Ridge is a real place in my native Herefordshire by the way although sadly I've never been there. Amazingly the album went straight to number one on release although was knocked off the top spot by Tubular Bells. According to wikipedia "The original 1974 vinyl mix is now available on the 2010 reissue of the album, along with a 2010 remix which sounds close to this 1974 mix, therefore making the radically different 1976 something of an oddity should the single disc CD be deleted." Got that?
Ommadawn was the follow up album in 1975 and although the style remains basically the same I find this one a bit more listenable with respect to its predecessor, oh and I love the uillean pipes bit on side 2. Ommadawn also features the wonderfully batty ditty On Horseback (which I hadn't realised was on the original vinyl too) and the deluxe edish also includes great little single-friendly Oldfield tunes like the Christmassy In Dulci Jubilo, Argiers and Portsmouth. Perhaps a better buy, but get them both at amazon or wherever you prefer.
"Ommadawn ye say? You hum it, I'll play it...."- a uillean pipes-player, yesterday
Listen: Mike Oldfield - Portsmouth
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